LABOUR’S claim to oppose bus pass cuts is a laugh given that when in power it implemented such cuts, as David Lacey (HAS, Aug 20) points out.

Pensioner bus passes are very questionable in that the arguments for bus passes are nowhere near as good as the arguments for the NHS or state schools. The latter two provide health care and education for about 99.9 per cent of those who need them. In contrast, the bus transport available to about a third of pensioners is so poor, they just don’t use it.

Second, a big merit in the NHS is that some illnesses involve sudden and very large costs which many cannot afford. In contrast, essential travel (eg, for shopping) is a modest and predictable weekly expense.

Third, about three-quarters of bus pass money is wasted in that it pays the travel expenses of those who could afford the full fare, or it pays for non-essential travel.

I’d like to see bus passes abolished with the money saved going straight into the pockets of the poorest pensioners. Cash is more flexible than a bus pass: cash can be spent on a taxi if a pensioner so chooses.

Ralph Musgrave, Durham.